Author debuts 'Bouncing Grandma' mystery series

Saturday

Sep 27, 2008 at 12:01 AMSep 27, 2008 at 6:27 AM

Glory Harper is stuck in a wheelchair with a broken leg –– the result of a skateboarding accident that caused a multi-car pileup. She has nothing more to do than watch the new neighbors move in. Glory has one problem –– it doesn’t seem anyone will take her seriously when she reports the foot she saw dangling from the end of a carpet as it was carried into the new neighbors' house.

Connie Goff

Glory Harper is stuck in a wheelchair with a broken leg –– the result of a skateboarding accident that caused a multi-car pileup. She has nothing more to do than watch the new neighbors move in.

Glory has one problem –– it doesn’t seem anyone will take her seriously when she reports the foot she saw dangling from the end of a carpet as it was carried into the new neighbors' house.

Author A.K. Arnez said, “Glory must have hit her head one too many times, or there really is a foot sticking out of that carpet.”

Sheaf House, a new publisher based near Nashville, Tenn., has released “The Case of the Bouncing Grandma,” a first novel by former Maryville, Mo., resident A.K. (Alice Starke) Arnez.

Arnez said the book is considered a cozy mystery –– one that keeps you guessing, doesn't make you think too much, you get to know the characters and feel like a big blanket is wrapping around you all at the same time.

“The Case of the Bouncing Grandma” is first in “The Bouncing Grandma Series.” “The Case of the Mystified M.D.” is scheduled to be released in October 2009. Arnez said the first chapter of “Mystified” is included at the end of “Bouncing Grandma” just to tantalize and intrigue.

Arnez, now a resident of Kansas City, has been writing since she was 12 years old.

“I've always written mysteries,” Arnez said. “I like a good suspense movie or thriller, but not necessarily the graphic kind with a lot of gore.”

Arnez said a couple of years ago she was asked by an acquaintance to read a book that had been recently accepted by a publisher. After reading the book, Arnez believed she could write a book as well.

“When I decided I was going to try my hand at writing a novel –– something I’d wanted to do for quite sometime, but doubted myself,” Arnez said. “I said a prayer and asked for God's help and before I knew it, I had two chapters completed.”

Besides her “Bouncing Grandma Series,” Arnez said she is anxious to get back to a women's fiction work that is close to completion. “A Question of Survival” is a book about a woman who has to recognize and admit to herself she is experiencing spousal abuse and decide what to do about it.

Arnez said when people say they can picture the characters in her book and relate to them like family, she then believes she has succeeded in what she is trying to do.

“Once someone associates with the characters in a book, the characters become real,” she said. “If the characters are too flat, you begin wondering why you are reading the book at all.”

Arnez has been a member of The American Christian Fiction Writers –– a promoter of Christian books –– for five years. For the past two years, Arnez has attended ACFW's annual conference.
“It’s good to attend these conferences and be around other people who think along the same lines you do," she said. "My publisher asked me to attend this year to promote my new book."

To learn more about Arnez, check out her Web site at http://www.akawriter.com or e-mail her at akawriter@earthlink.net.